1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention described herein pertain to the field of electrical systems. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, one or more embodiments of the invention comprise for example used household batteries to surface charge a car battery for a limited time to enable the battery to start an engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Existing solutions allow for a battery source to provide a surface charge to a battery. Once the surface charge exists on the battery, there is a limited amount of time in which the battery may be used to start an engine in a vehicle. If the battery in the vehicle has been run down by an energy drain (for example by leaving the head lights on), a quick surface charge usually provides enough energy to start the engine in the vehicle. Existing solutions use new batteries to charge a target battery, such as, for example, an automobile battery. The use of new batteries is not environmentally friendly since there are existing used batteries that could be used to charge a target battery, however the related art does not contemplate the use of used batteries for this purpose.
On a global scale there are millions of non-rechargeable batteries used every year that are simply discarded, for example AA batteries. The environmental impact is tremendous in that many types of batteries contain harmful toxic chemicals that eventually leak into the environment. It is currently illegal to use mercury in most battery types so the environmental impact is no longer as great as it used to be. However, there are significant chemical resources in the multitude of discarded batteries that are simply discarded but which could be recycled. It is estimated that over 350 million rechargeable batteries are purchased in the United States every year. Even so, these batteries do not last forever and many are eventually discarded as well.
Alkaline batteries manufactured and sold in the United States are generally labeled with warnings that state that the batteries in any size are not rechargeable and users are warned against recharging the batteries. Some manufacturers have designed specific alkaline batteries for rechargeable use, but those batteries are sold at a higher premium price and are only rechargeable with the aid of the manufacturer's charging system. The design of these specific “rechargeable” alkaline batteries is supposed to be different than the typical alkaline batteries sold in high volume in most stores around the world. However, most alkaline batteries are “use once and discard” products that pose a significant environmental hazard.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,883,491, entitled “method and apparatus for depositing an electrical charge to an electrical storage cell used in an automobile,” describes the basic functions associated with providing a surface charge to a battery. The energy source described in the '491 patent may comprise a variety of electrical sources; however using used batteries for this purpose is not contemplated.
For at least the limitations described above there is a need for applications of used batteries so that these batteries are not discarded into the environment and hence there is a need for a method and apparatus comprising used batteries for surface charging an automobile battery.